1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a training device, and more particularly, to an educational training device used with a slide projector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Educational training devices using a slide projector is well-known in the art. In such a training device, questions and answers with explanations are projected. In the conventional training device, however, it has been difficult or impossible to selectively project a different explanation for the answer according to an answer given by the student. In some cases, it is desirable to selectively project different explanations according to the actual answer made by a student. By properly projecting a different explanation of the answer according to the content of the wrong answer made by a student, more effective training can be obtained.
One attempt to improve the effectiveness of training devices is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,396 to Hannah et al. This device employs a slide projector and a tape recorder and can be programmed to branch to different frames depending on the student's response. The direction and the number of frames to be branched are recorded on the visual record itself as signals, and these signals are read out by a detection means, the number of frames to be branched is memorized in a counter, the visual record and audio record are driven independently, and the tape recorder and teaching machine are driven until the number of frames of the visual record and the number of narrations of the audio record become equal to the number memorized in the counter. Since all the data are recorded on the visual record as signals, the number of signals which should be recorded on the visual record is greatly increased in the case of multiple branching. In the Hannah et al device, the counter is used for branching.
Another example known in the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,811 to Thompson et al. In the device described by Thompson et al., multiple tracks are provided each for visual information, audio information and control information, and branching is limited to changing each track and changing reproduction direction. Since branching is to change each track and reproduction direction, the freedom in producing the software can be considered low.
Yet another prior art training device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,027 to Budnik et al. The branching method described in this patent differs basically from those described by Hannah et al. and Thompson et al., supra. In the Budnik et al. device, even if a learner answers the question, the visual record is not branched at all to other frames, but only the audio record responds to the answer of the learner, and its tracks and reproduction direction are changed for presentation to the learner. Therefore, the visual record does not correspond to the audio record on a one-to-one relation.
In view of the above described requirements inherent in conventional training devices, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a training device provided with a slide projector in which different frames of a slide film can be selectively brought to the optical axis of the projector according to the content of the answer received from the student.